College of Education celebrates the 2008 graduates of the MLMED Program on Maui and Molokai

HONOLULU - The College of Education‘s Master of Education degree in Curriculum Studies with a Middle Level Emphasis (MLMED) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will graduate two cohorts of twenty students each in August 2008. After completing final course work this summer, one cohort on Oʻahu and another on Maui will receive their MEd degrees, bringing the total number of MLMED program graduates to 200. Started in 1996, the goal of the MLMED program was to build a Hawaiʻi leadership base for middle level school renewal, grades 4—10. As classroom teachers, participants in the program work with young adolescents in both public and private schools, which include: Kalama Intermediate School, Kamehameha Middle School (Maui), Kekaulike High School, Lahaina Intermediate School, Lokelani Intermediate School, Maui High School, Maui Waena Intermediate School, and Molokai Middle School.According to Paul D. Deering, professor in the COE‘s Department of Curriculum Studies and MLMED Coordinator, young adolescents undergo enormous changes in all developmental areas, offering huge challenges and equally huge opportunities to their educators and parents. "The MLMED program and its participants are dedicated to this complex and wonderful age group," he added. Over ninety percent of the program‘s diverse population graduate and stay in education; only about two percent have left the profession prematurely."The Maui cohort is the first neighbor island offering for the MLMED," Deering said. "Maui participants chose the name ʻAhelela since roping the sun is comparable to their efforts at lassoing young adolescents into the learning process." In addition to Deering, who flies to Maui on a monthly basis, the program is supported by other UHM faculty and a team of Maui-based adjunct faculty: Lorraine Gomez, Lahaina Complex; Jeanne Korotsky and Debra Leong (an MLMED graduate), Maui Waena Intermediate School; Debi Tisdell, Pomaikaʻi Elementary School; and Marion Muller, retired principal, Lokelani Intermediate School.

The next opportunity for Maui educators to participate in the MLMED program will be with an online cohort, which is scheduled to begin in July 2009. This cohort will be available to all of the Hawaiian Islands and aims to attract participants from Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, and the mainland.